SMART Aid

SMART Aid helps Ugandans fight corruption

Jun 12th, 2009 7:45 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan

As ONE continues to advocate for SMART Aid, we’ll be bringing you examples on the ONE Blog of how effective development assistance, when implemented correctly, can save lives:

When the Ugandan government ended primary school fees in 1997, millions of the poorest children were able to attend school for the first time. Enrolments more than doubled over the next decade. Donor aid was needed to support the schools, but many donors were hesitant to invest in the system because of a reputation for corruption. With support through the World Bank’s International Development Agency (IDA), a Public Expenditure Tracking Survey in 1996 showed that only 13 per cent of education funding was reaching schools. As a result, donors made their support conditional on the Ugandan Government’s implementation of an anti-corruption programme. Through newspaper and radio campaigns, the Government informed parents’ associations of the amount of money their schools should be receiving; parent groups were able to act as watchdogs. As a result of this campaign, and other reforms to the education system, a second survey in 2002 showed that 80 per cent of resources were reaching schools. This model has been replicated in other African countries; it serves as a strong example of “bottom-up accountability”, engaging civil society, donors and governments to improve aid systems and deliver smarter aid continent-wide.

SMART Aid helps Ethiopia halve malaria deaths in two years

Jun 12th, 2009 7:44 PM UTC
By Nora Coghlan

As ONE continues to advocate for SMART Aid, we’ll be bringing you examples on the ONE Blog of how effective development assistance, when implemented correctly, can save lives:

More than 50 million people in Ethiopia live in areas at risk of malaria. At the turn of the decade, the disease was killing more than 29,000 children a year. In 2005, the Ethiopian government unveiled an ambitious strategy, with donor support, to deliver two mosquito nets to every family at risk. By January 2008, 20.5 million bed nets had been delivered and a third of at-risk children were sleeping in safety (up from two per cent in 2005). Within three years of the start of the program, cases of malaria, and death rates, had been halved. This success was also thanks to delivery of effective malaria treatment, which can cost as little as US$2 per dose. Ethiopia is working to expand access to primary health services, particularly through the training of two health extension workers per village. Thirty thousand young women have been mobilized to transfer health skills to communities, a vital initiative in a country where health services often fail to reach those in isolated rural areas. The training of these health workers, and the provision of disease test kits and drugs, is paid for by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

-Nora Coghlan